A DINUCLEOTIDE REPEAT POLYMORPHISM AT THE GENE FOR MONOAMINE-OXIDASE-A AND MEASURES OF AGGRESSIVENESS

The relationship between measures of aggressiveness (personality quest ionnaire scales, conduct disorder diagnosis, and symptom count) and a recently discovered dinucleotide repeat length polymorphism at the mon oamine oxidase type A (MAOA) gene (MAOCA-1) as a candidate locus was e xamined in adolescents using polymerase chain reaction. No significant correlation between aggression scales and repeat length at the MAOCA- 1 marker was found, whereas the categorical diagnosis of conduct disor der showed a nonsignificant trend for an association with the marker. Alternative explanations of this trend are discussed, The data obtaine d suggest that the polymorphism studied is not associated with the var iation in aggressiveness.